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WASHINGTON - A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator.
ADVERTISEMENTJoe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates.
"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC near the end of his presidency, and Andrew endorsed the former first lady last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.
Andrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."
"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us," Andrew wrote. "John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives."
AP NewsBreak: Former Democratic leader switches to Obama - Yahoo! News
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- Public Discussion (4)
Andrew is right (and brave) to come out and say that continuing this process is just going to hurt us in November.
- 6 votes
#1 - Thu May 1, 2008 4:26 AM EDTAndrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."
Wow! That's telling it straight.
Maybe more delegates will start to follow his lead now!
- 6 votes
#2 - Thu May 1, 2008 4:35 AM EDTI agree, nearing. I also think that this is the final toll of the bell on the Wright issue as well. If a man Bill Clinton appointed can come out and say this after Obama's had arguably the worst week of his campaign so far, it's rather clear to me that it's starting to sink into the party that we are, as one Republican put it, eating our own young. If we want this election it's time to put away the bickering and bet on the best horse. I just wrote a piece tonight you can find in both my column and ObamaExpress about how much stronger Obama's organization is than Clinton's. We just have to put faith in the notion that Obama and his advisers have read the realignment properly and work our asses off to support them through to the end.
- 5 votes
Nice little spin going into the primary.
Buh-bye, Hillary.
- 1 vote
#3 - Thu May 1, 2008 7:05 AM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
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